Friday, October 13, 2017

I Love Star Blocks x 4!!!!

If you have been hanging around my blog for any time, it is no surprise that I love to piece and design Star Quilts!!! A majority of the quilts in the annual Quilt Along's are star designs and I can't even count how many different Star Quilt tutorials there are ;) So when the wonderful folks at Martingale asked if I wanted to contribute a design or 2 to their new
I Love Star Blocks book, the newest book in their Block-Buster Quilts series, I was all over it!!!

And can I tell you how shocked and excited I was when I heard back that not 1 or 2, but 4 of my Star Quilt Designs had been selected for this new
I Love Star Blocks book!!!!! Off to the sewing races I went and I am so super excited today to get to share each of those 4 quilts with you!!! So let's get to it ;)

My first quilt in the book is Sunrise, Sunset which is kind of a funny name as we are talking about Stars, but I liked the play on words. I had so much fun designing this quilt and creating an almost 3-D effect of the 2 Star Blocks. And even though it has lots of intermixing designs, it still goes together super fast and easy with lots of strip piecing and a basic block with some fun sashing.

I choose my favorite Grunge Fabrics by Basic Grey for Moda as I love the added texture it gives to a basic solid. I choose the colors to add to the Sunrise, Sunset theme with beautiful gold-oranges for the sunrise, and lovely cool blues for the sunset. And I just love how those beautiful tones just pop around those grey and white diamonds.

When it came time to quilt, I decided to do an all over Swirl and Curl. I love adding fun curves in the quilting to star quilts because it just perfectly compliments all the happy points in the piecing :) And it is also super fun and fast, and since I was making 4 quilts in basically a 2 quilt deadline, fast was important ;)

Sunrise, Sunset finishes at 84" square so it is just perfect to take out on an evening picnic and then lay out and watch the stars come up :) And it's super quick to get started on as you just need to grab some basic yardage and your ready for some strip piecing fun!!

County Fair is the next quilt. And it uses a layered star effect to create 2 fun blocks. The great thing is the blocks are both created the same way and just flipped , making it fun and easy to create and giving you 2 dynamic patchwork star blocks!! And both blocks have an updated yet classic Star Block appearance, one that you might have seen entered into a County Fair, hence the name ;)

I used Fig Tree Quilts gorgeous Coney Island Fabrics for Moda which was the perfect fit for this summertime fair quilt. It really adds to the playful nature of the happy, scrappy blocks and I just love the wonderful colors.

And since no Fair is complete without some fireworks, I quilted an all over Fireworks design on this quilt. It really adds wonderful texture and it just perfect for the happy feel of this quilt. And of course, I used my favorite 402 So Fine Thread for the perfect blend in that beautiful neutral background.

County Fair finishes at 80" square, making great on a Full size bed or perfect to take to all the summer ball games. And it is Fat Quarter Friendly, so all you have to do is grab a bundle and get sewing!!!

Scrappy Stars is my third quilt in the book and is just like it is named, Scrappy!!! I had so much fun playing with patchwork in different sized stars that range from 8" finished all the way up to 32" :) And then to see them all come together in the happy composition, eeekk, I just love it!! It really just makes me smile every time I see it's scrappy goodness.

I used Corey Yoder's whimsical LuLu Lane fabrics for Moda and I just love the softness they add to all that scrappy patchwork goodness. And the prints have a fun playful feeling to them as well that add to the happy feeling of the quilt, just a perfect fit!!!

I did a little custom quilting on this one and I just had to play a little more in those giant stars!!! I love adding echoed arches to stars both in the center and points, as it just adds another dimension to the stars, so fun!!! And then I filled the background with wonderful curly q's which are always fun to do :)

Scrappy Stars finishes at 80" square as well, again making it perfect for a full size bed. How happy would this be in a little girls room. Or, if you wanted to make it for your own bed, just add a border to make it a little larger. The scrappy goodness will just make you smile every time you come into your room. And you can bust some serious scraps making this quilt, or if you want all your fabrics from one line like I did, just grab a Fat Quarter bundle and your good to go.

And the final quilt of mine in the book is Hunter Star. And before you get nervous, there is no crazy diamond piecing with y seams in this version of Hunter Star. Just a little organization of your color layout is needed with some basic HST's and you can make a simple yet gorgeous Hunter Star Quilt !!

I used Desert Bloom fabrics designed by Sherri and Chelsi for Moda and I just love how those prints pop!!! It is important in this quilt to choose a fabric where each print really "reads" a particular color and each one is also bold enough to stand out from the background, and Desert Bloom was just perfect!!! I love how it just really makes the Hunter Star design pop!!!

And since this is such a classic quilt, I decided to use two of the most classic quilting motifs I could think of, you know, the ones we all start learning on. The basic stipple or meander and a little loop-d-loop. And then I quilted dense straight lines on the Stars to really add some yummy texture and make them pop as the focal feature. And i just love those happy stars ;)

Hunter Star finishes at 96" square so it is perfect for a Queen bed with some wonderful drape, or a King Bed to top the bed with star goodness!!! It is really a stunner when all put together that gives you that classic look without all the stress. And with those big blocks, you know this is Fat Quarter friendly, all you have to do is find the perfect bundle to make those stars pop and you can get going on this classic quilt made easy :)

And those are my 4 quilts that can be found in Martingale's new I Love Star Blocks and I am am just so thrilled that I got to be a part of this amazing compilation of Star quilts!!!! It is amazing to me, no matter how many star quilts I make, there are always more Star quilts to be designed and they are always so much fun to make!!!

I Love Star Blocks is now available wherever quilts books are sold and if you are like me and truly love Star Quilts, this is a great book to add to your quilting library. As you can see from the cover, there are 16 amazing Star Quilts made by yours and my quilty friends and each are uniquely wonderful. You are so going to love I Love Star Blocks!!!

Thank you so much for popping in today and sharing this Secret Sewing reveal with me. It's hard to keep secrets for over a year, but it is always so fun to get to finally share ;) I just love these Star Quilts and hope you do as well and that maybe they will inspire you to some very Happy Quilting this weekend!!!

Hello Melissa; What a spectacular achievement for you, once again! I love your quilt patterns and these 4 quilts are amazing! I will start looking for the book. Congratulations Melissa, continue impressing the quilting world with your patterns and with your enthusiasm! Have a great day!

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